The Moehrl v. NAR settlement, which received final court approval on November 26, 2024, ended the longstanding requirement that home sellers offer a commission to the buyer’s agent as a condition of listing on the Multiple Listing Service. Since August 17, 2024, MLS listings can no longer advertise buyer-agent compensation, and any agent working with a buyer must have a signed compensation agreement in place before showing a home. The National Association of Realtors also agreed to pay $418 million to eligible sellers over roughly four years.1National Association of Realtors. Judge Approves NAR Settlement in Sitzer/Burnett Case
What Changed on August 17, 2024
Every NAR-affiliated MLS in the country had to adopt the same set of rules by that date.2National Association of Realtors. National Association of Realtors Provides Final Reminder of NAR Practice Change Implementation on August 17, 2024 Four changes matter most:
- Listings can no longer include an offer of compensation to a buyer’s broker, and the MLS cannot host any workaround platform that aggregates such offers.3National Association of Realtors. Summary of 2024 MLS Changes
- Any agent working with a buyer must have a signed written agreement in place before touring a home. The agreement has to state the agent’s compensation in a specific, objectively measurable way, and it cannot be open-ended.
- Agents cannot filter, hide, or deprioritize listings based on what the seller is offering to pay a buyer’s agent.
- Listing agreements, buyer agreements, and pre-closing documents must state clearly that broker compensation is fully negotiable and not set by law.
The rules apply to any home listed on an MLS, which covers the overwhelming majority of residential sales in the United States.
If You’re Selling a Home
Under the old system, the buyer-agent commission was effectively baked into the listing. Sellers had to make a blanket offer of compensation to whatever broker brought the buyer, and opting out meant losing MLS access.4Justia. Moehrl v. The National Association of Realtors That’s gone. The listing goes on the MLS without any commission offer attached, and you decide separately whether, and how much, to contribute toward the buyer’s agent fee.
You can still offer to pay the buyer’s agent. Many sellers do, especially in slower markets or when a property needs broader exposure. But the offer now travels through other channels: your listing broker’s own website, direct outreach to buyer’s agents, or negotiation of the purchase contract itself.5National Association of Realtors. NAR Settlement FAQs A buyer can also ask you to cover their agent’s fee as a term of their offer, and you can accept, reject, or counter it the same way you’d treat any other term.
The practical effect is that total commission cost is now visible and negotiable rather than assumed. If you were expecting to pay a combined 5% or 6%, you have more room than before to structure things differently.
If You’re Buying a Home
Buyers face the sharper adjustment. Before the settlement, most buyers never thought about what their agent cost because the seller’s side covered it by default. That’s no longer how it works.
Before an agent can show you a single property, you have to sign a written agreement that states exactly what you’ll pay them. The compensation can be a flat fee, an hourly rate, or a percentage of the purchase price, but it must be pinned to a specific number. The agent also cannot collect more than the agreement specifies, even if a seller offers more.3National Association of Realtors. Summary of 2024 MLS Changes
Most buyers still avoid writing a check out of pocket. They negotiate the seller’s payment of the buyer-agent fee into the purchase contract, or the listing already advertises an off-MLS compensation offer. But you should walk in prepared for the possibility of paying directly, particularly in competitive markets where sellers have less reason to make concessions.
The Mortgage Concession Cap That Catches Buyers Off Guard
When a seller agrees to pay your agent’s commission, that payment counts as a seller concession under most mortgage programs, and each loan type caps how much the seller can contribute:
- Conventional loans through Fannie Mae cap concessions at 3% of the sale price when you put down less than 10%, 6% when you put down 10% to 25%, and 9% above that.6Fannie Mae. Interested Party Contributions (IPCs)
- FHA loans cap seller concessions at 6% of the sale price.
- VA loans got a temporary policy in 2024 that lets veterans pay buyer-broker charges directly, a departure from prior rules that restricted such payments. The VA does not treat a seller’s payment of buyer-broker fees as a seller concession, which gives veterans more flexibility. A permanent rule is expected through a rulemaking process during 2026 or 2027.7Department of Veterans Affairs. Circular 26-24-14 – Temporary Local Variance for Certain Buyer-Broker Charges8Department of Veterans Affairs. VA Report to Congress on the VA Home Loan Program
A first-time buyer putting 5% down on a $400,000 home has a conventional concession cap of $12,000. If the seller is already covering $8,000 in closing costs, only $4,000 is left for the buyer-agent commission. The math gets tight fast, particularly at lower price points where a percentage-based agent fee can exceed what the cap allows. In that situation you’re looking at paying the difference out of pocket or negotiating a lower agent fee up front.
What Commission Rates Look Like So Far
Predictions of a commission collapse haven’t materialized in the early data. Buyer-agent commissions dipped to an average of 2.36% in the third quarter of 2024, just after the new rules took effect, and edged back up to 2.42% by the third quarter of 2025. Rates vary by price tier: homes under $500,000 averaged 2.52%, while homes at $1 million and above averaged 2.22%.
What the settlement did produce is more variation. Some buyers negotiate flat fees or reduced percentages; others end up paying rates close to pre-settlement norms. The number is now a conversation rather than a default.
The $418 Million Payment and Who Qualified
The settlement’s cash component funds payouts to home sellers who listed a property on an MLS anywhere in the United States and paid a brokerage commission during the eligible period.9Real Estate Commission Litigation. NAR FAQ The claim deadline was May 9, 2025, and has passed. Sellers who submitted timely claims will receive their share of the fund once the administrator finishes reviewing submissions; the per-seller amount depends on the number of valid claims and the details of each transaction. Late claims cannot be filed.
The release covers NAR, over 1.4 million NAR members, all state and local Realtor associations, association-owned MLS systems, and brokerages with NAR-member principals whose 2022 residential transaction volume was $2 billion or less.10National Association of Realtors. NAR Settlement Factsheet Larger brokerages were not covered.
What’s Still Unresolved
Brokerages whose 2022 residential transaction volume exceeded $2 billion were excluded from the settlement’s release and continue to face separate litigation. HomeServices of America is the last corporate defendant still litigating the original case. Parties who objected to the settlement retained the right to appeal after the November 2024 approval.
Several states have started passing their own buyer-broker agreement laws. Texas and Oregon enacted requirements in 2025, and other states are considering similar legislation. These state rules sometimes differ from NAR’s in scope or timing, so the requirements you sign under may depend on where you’re buying. The full competitive effects of decoupling buyer-agent compensation from the MLS will take years to play out.